Give a little, Get a little
by pirateofmyship
Summary: Emma and Regina form a bond through food. Regina is an excellent cook and Emma occasionally helps her while Henry is at college. Fluffy.


Hello, just wanted to leave a little AN. It's 3am and I'm dying to sleep but I just wanted to post this thing that was sitting on my computer for almost 2 years. My first language isn't English and you shall notice a lot of misspelled shit and weird phrases haha so I apologize for that in advance. This wasn't beta'ed and I tried to proofread as best as I could. Enjoy!

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Emma Swan was never a morning person. She dreaded them so much because she never managed to function properly before 10 am or before her much needed cup of hot steamy coffee from Granny's and her sugary bear claws. Besides, night patrols were killing her since David was on licence and she had to do all the shifts alone. He took a month to try and spend more time with Snow and Neal once her mother complained she barely saw him all day. Neal was six now and Snow took him to school every day, still teaching classes on the mornings until midday when she went home and spent the day alone with Neal wishing David were there. Her baby brother was a really sweet boy and very quiet but Snow knew he missed his father very much during the day.

Emma sighed when she missed the trashcan. Her aim at trashcan basketball was getting worse every day. She then thought about how boring things were lately and sighed again. Henry was at college and rarely came home, just on holidays and big vacations and she missed him. Spending time with her son was always a fun thing to do and she never got bored, even when they really didn't do anything all day, just his presence was enough to fill her spirit with joy and she missed that very much. Lately Storybrooke was so calm she was begging for an impending apocalypse, something, and anything to get her out of this boring routine.

She then thought of Regina and how lonely she must be on those days. She was reinstated as mayor when Neal was three years and Snow decided to start teaching again because doing town hall paperwork and dealing with politics were horrible and very unpleasant according to her. She eventually got bored of all the legal stuff of this world and decided to hold an election because according to her the new mayor had to be elected by decision of the town people. Archie tried to run but in the end Regina won with 80% of the votes.

She thought about the older woman again and wondered what the woman was doing in that moment. Besides being mayor Regina had started cooking and accepting commissions for her food. It was quite hilarious actually, the former Evil Queen who tried once poisoning Snow White and her daughter now accepting commissions for her food. Those fairy tale people were really weird, Emma thought.

A couple of days later she was knocking on the mayor's door on 108 Mifflin Street. It was a Friday night and all Friday and Wednesdays Emma had dinner with Regina. It was something they both had fallen into after Henry went off to college, one day Emma came to Regina's to deliver something Henry had shipped for his mother – a book, if she was correct – and Regina had surprisingly asked her to stay for dinner. She thought that after Henry went to college the woman would go back to being cold and distant but Regina seemed to have truly changed her ways and although she was still a little bitchy sometimes this Regina was ten thousands better than Evil Queen Regina when she was really bitch and Emma sort of liked her. In the beginning things were really awkward between the two since they practically had nothing in common to share. If Emma liked some sort of music Regina despised it, if Regina enjoyed certain movies Emma thought them as abhorrent, but after some heavy bickering and a couple of months having dinner together they had learned to at least tolerate each other. Even Snow knew of their weekly dinners and after some time she learned to accept them when Emma refused to stop going there because Snow still thought Regina would turn evil and try to poison her again. She knew Snow was kidding but in her heart she also knew the short haired woman's fear was very real. Snow was paranoid like that.

On the other hand Henry was truly happy because of his mothers and when they talked on Skype he always recommended Emma to not leave Regina alone and always check up on her. In the blonde's head she was only doing that for her son but as the time passed she started to truly enjoy her nightly dinners with her son's other mother. Regina was an awesome cooker and she always made something that would leave Emma moaning through the entire meal until she couldn't breathe anymore from overeating.

The mansion's door opened quickly and Regina was standing there, looking at her as if she was annoyed by her presence.

"Miss Swan." She almost sneered at Emma. "You're early today."

Emma looked at the flawless woman in front of her with her mouth a little dry. She knew Regina was always impeccable but the woman seemed to her on that moment a little gorgeous than usual. Emma narrowed her eyes and lifted the bottle of wine she was carrying.

"My shift ended early so I thought I could swing by a little early." She explained shrugging.

"Dinner's not ready and although I appreciate the punctuality maybe a call next time would be appreciated."

Emma rolled her eyes and followed Regina inside the house, closing the door behind her. Regina's blue dress was perfectly molded against her body and Emma noticed she was wearing an apron that said in the front 'proud mother'. She rolled her eyes at that – again - and followed Regina to the kitchen. As always the place was well cleaned and polished even though the woman had a balcony full of flour and cake ingredients.

"What are you making today?" Emma asked while opening the freezer to put the bottle of wine inside. She knew that was Regina's favorite and although it had costed her almost a month's salary she liked the look of pleasure Regina used to give her when presented with the bottle. In the meantime, Regina was staring at the blonde woman that seemed so comfortable in her house. She wondered when Emma had started to feel more part of her house than her. "Hello? Regina?"

A hand was waving in front of her and she huffed with annoyance.

"Would you care to stop moving your hands in front of my face like a hungry baboon?" She snapped and Emma laughed before sitting herself on the stool across Regina. "As for your question, I am making blueberry muffins for the science fair tomorrow." At Emma's amused look the brunette woman continued. "Neal asked me to."

Emma smiled at her while taking an already baked muffin from a tray in front of her. Regina gave her a murderous look that she dismissed while moaning in pleasure, devouring the little muffin in two large bites.

"Have I ever told you that you eat like a child, Miss Swan?"

"Yup, about a thousand times." Emma answered already going for her second muffin. "Damn, if I knew you could cook muffins like this I would've arrived earlier every time the kids had a science fair. Or any kind of fair."

"Do try to chew before swallowing, dear." Regina rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't want your precious mother accusing me of trying to murder you with a blueberry muffin, now would we?"

This time was Emma who rolled her eyes.

"So…" Emma drawled the word. "My little brother seems quite smitten with you." She commented playfully, knowing very well that her little baby brother had a massive crush on Regina. He was always nervous near the woman and when she carried him he liked very much to rest his head on her chest. When she first discovered she had laughed a full hour at Snow's face while David tried to explain to them that he was a Charming therefore of course he would have a crush on Regina, which earned him a few minutes of silence and a death glare from Snow while Emma had nearly choked herself with her saliva.

"He is a wonderful boy despite his parentage." Regina dismissed, continuing to mix a bowl that Emma tried to peer on. "And he reminds me of Henry when he was his age. I couldn't quite deny him anything at that age."

Emma felt a pang of sadness inside of her, the same feeling she had every time Regina mentioned her and Henry's life before her. The feeling that she had missed many things from his life, things she would very well want to know in detail someday.

"Was he… was he very shy like Neal is?" She asked hesitant, the question burning in her throat.

"Oh, no. Not that shy. Although he was indeed a Charming boy." Regina grimaced at the admission.

"Well, that's our genes. Us, Charmings."

"Very eloquent, dear." Regina snickered.

"I do my best to please, _my_ _Queen_." Emma said with a playful tone. Regina snapped her neck to look at her, shocked at what Emma had called her. She never had called her that. And certainly no one ever did with such intensity. When Emma looked at her with narrowed and confused eyes she quickly averted her eyes from the blonde's trying very hard to hide the sudden blush that crept to her face. Regina Mills did not blushed. Ever.

Now Emma was looking at her with a weird face and she couldn't stop the damn blush again. She quickly gave her back to Emma pretending to go check the other muffins in the oven.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked confused. One minute they were bickering like usual and in the other Regina was acting strange, avoiding to look her in the eyes and suddenly quiet.

"I'm perfectly fine, Miss Swan." Regina murmured still crouched near the oven. She cleaned her throat and quickly though of another subject to entertain Emma so she would not question her further. "So, have you talked to Henry these days?"

"Well, honestly no. The kid's been studying hard for his exams and we hadn't had a decent conversation in almost two weeks. That and the fact that he has a new girlfriend who occupies all of his time now."

"What?" Regina sneered, turning to Emma and forgetting she was supposed to avoid her.

"Kid's got a new girlfriend, Regina." Emma shrugged as that information was as obvious as one plus one.

"But he had a new girlfriend two months ago!"

"He's full of hormones, of course he had a new girlfriend two months ago. And probably will have another by the end of the year." Emma laughed hard at Regina's appalled face, having too much fun teasing her. "Besides, it's not like he doesn't know about having protected sex, I talked to him."

"You talked to him? You?" At Emma's skeptical look she waved her hand dismissing her. "When did that happen and where was I, if I may ask? Because if he's taking advice about that kind of subject from you he could very well already be a father."

"Geez woman, relax." Emma shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "He knows the basics and plus I bought him a box full of condoms last time he visited, so for our joy he is protected against parenthood. At least for now." At Regina's shocked face she rolled her eyes for the hundred time on that day. "Come on Regina don't be so shocked, you caught him with hundreds of porn magazines under his bed when he was 15, it's not like he wouldn't be having sex in college with his girlfriends."

Regina opened her mouth trying to protest but no sound came out. Emma playfully wiggled her eyebrows at the former Queen and she finally snapped, glaring daggers at the Sheriff.

"I do not wish to talk about my son's sex life with you, Miss Swan." She finally said and Emma laughed hard at her pale face. "And go set the table." Emma stopped laughing immediately and with a grumpy face made her way to the cabinets to retrieve the dishes. Regina's smile was triumphal while watching the blonde pout, but she shuddered the next moment she thought about the conversation they had about her son's apparently very active sexual life. Henry was going to hear a piece of her mind next time he called.

The next week when Emma arrived on Wednesday, Regina was baking several orange cakes that Granny had ordered for the dinner and the kitchen was a complete mess. Emma did the routine of setting the wine on the freezer and hopped on her stool, looking at her awkwardly. This time Regina was wearing her trademark red dress and had a different apron on her, one that said 'mom's food's better'. She caught Emma staring at her and narrowed her eyes.

"What now, Miss Swan?" Her voice held a mix of annoyance and tiredness, all which Emma captured.

Taking a slice of an already baked cake and ignoring Regina's mortal glare and protests about ruining her work, Emma started eating happily while still looking at her strangely.

"You seem tired." The sheriff commented casually. She had noticed the older woman's bags under her eyes and the way her shoulders were shifting awkwardly every time she mixed the contents of her bowl.

"Well, yes, thank you for pointing the obvious." Regina snapped and Emma rolled her eyes. She did that each time Regina snapped at her which was almost every time, not bothering to answer to fuel the brunette's bad mood. Emma kept staring at her with her eyebrows scrunched up. "If you think too hard you might accidentally shut down your brain, Miss Swan."

Ignoring her, Emma asked "Soooo, what are we having for dinner?"

"If you wouldn't ignore my protests and arrived at the appointed time maybe I would have had some proper time to organize myself about dinner, don't you think?" When Emma continued staring at her blankly Regina sighed and moved to put the cake batter in the oven. "I thought we could have lasagna since you seem to enjoy it so much… and it reminds me when Henry was still here."

Emma looked at her for a few seconds while thinking a little and came to a conclusion. "You know, if you don't feel like cooking tonight we could just go grab something at Granny's."

"So you could clog up your arteries with the greasy and unhealthy food you seem so fond of? I don't think so, Miss Swan."

"I'm probably gonna live more than you, you know." Regina narrowed her eyes threateningly at that. Emma got the hint and raised her hands above her head. "And I shouldn't have said that. Ok, what can I do to help here?"

"You're doing just fine seated over there, I don't need you attempting to destroy my kitchen."

"Hey!" Emma called playfully. "I can be a very helpful assistant! I help all the time, just ask Snow."

"She's your mother, of course she will say that." Regina replied rolling her eyes. Emma huffed before returning to her forgotten piece of cake and resuming eating. Stealing side glances at Regina, she watched as the woman started to prepare another cake with the remaining ingredients. Even though Regina seemed very tired, she still had this look on her face, the look when she always started cooking. Emma started to notice that the former mayor seemed to glow every time she was in the kitchen cooking. Emma shrugged dismissing the thought, maybe Regina just liked to cook, that's all. That's why when Regina caught her staring again she quickly averted her eyes to her boots, blushing while doing so.

Emma was walking with her eyes still semi closed, the morning chill taking its toll on her. She opened the station and blowing hot hair at her hands made her way inside. It was considerably warmer than outside and she hung up her coat, trading it for her red leather jacket. It was a little battered but it could still survive. Regina had gave it some stitches one of the nights they had dinner and she wore the red jacket trying to annoy Regina. It turned out the woman was more annoyed that the piece was falling apart and that Emma allowed herself to still walk around with it.

There was a drawer still full of paperwork she was postponing for weeks and she knew Regina would come for her if she didn't finish it, just like their old days of bickering when the curse was still intact. She groaned and pushed it open getting the papers out.

The sound of Regina's heels woke her from her little nap with a start, her hand going to clean her drool on top of the paperwork she was supposed to do. She panicked for a moment before Regina's legs came in to view and Emma gulped. She was in deep trouble this time.

"Good morning, Sheriff!" Regina said going to sit in the chair in front of her. She started opening the bag she was carrying and Emma tried to peek to see what she was carrying.

"Hi Regina. What are you doing here?" Emma asked eyeing her suspiciously.

"Don't bother trying to hide those papers dear." Regina said without even looking at Emma, who was trying to shove the papers aside trying not to be caught. "And don't think I didn't see you drooling all over them." Emma grunted at being caught. "As for what I'm doing here, I thought I could stop by and bring you lunch. Yesterday's leftovers."

Emma's eyes lit up at the mention of food and she sneaked a glance at the clock confirming it was indeed lunch time.

"Did you bring the pudding too?" Emma asked distractedly, helping Regina set the two plates, the cutlery and the napkins on her table. Regina was a control freak and always liked to have her things well organised, even when eating out of her house.

"What am I, your maid?" Regina muttered before removing a covered bowl. When Emma rolled her eyes Regina also rolled hers. "Yes, I did."

Emma grinned so hard Regina thought she would break her face. Rolling her eyes again she started serving Emma's plate with a still heated portion of last night's lasagna and a salad she had prepared minutes before exiting the house. She had forgotten some documents she needed to sign at home when she had the sudden idea to bring Emma lunch. It's not that it didn't happen before, only this time she found herself smiling a lot more than usual while reheating the food, thinking about Emma's reaction when she mentioned food. Her eyes seemed to gain life at the mention of homemade food and Regina had chuckled at how much of a child she could be.

"Wow, humm. This is really good Regina." Emma complimented after giving a long moan after one long bite, her mouth still full while pointing at her plate.

"You ate that yesterday, Emma."

"Well, yeah… but it's still really good." Emma shrugged continuing to shove food down her throat. Regina still remained fixated on her before shaking her head and resumed taking her tiny fancy bites out of her salad.

Emma was muttering under her breath, complaining how she didn't like doing groceries alone while walking through the aisles at the grocery shop. The long list Snow had gave her was a little crumpled since she had stuffed it on the back pocket of her jeans and she was having a hard time trying to comprehend an item that got kind of erased in the process.

Snow had asked her to do her groceries while David covered her temporarily at the station and she had reluctantly accepted for a week of laundry in exchange. When she asked Snow why she couldn't just send David to do the damn groceries her mother panicked while trying to explain to her that her father was the worse person ever at doing groceries.

Just when she was turning to another section searching for some soy sauce, it caught her eye. Emma came closer to inspect the funny and weird phrases written when suddenly her eyes widened and she grabbed one to inspect it closer. It was the perfect one for Regina and she chuckled imagining the mayor's reaction and the scowl she would receive in exchange. She immediately put it inside her grocery cart and whistling a well-known 80's song made her way to the cashier, soy sauce and the rest of the list long forgotten.

Next time Emma sees Regina is when she misses an appointment at Town Hall and everyone panics thinking Regina got abducted again by some bad plotting villains like Greg and Tamara and Emma has to search for her for hours until finding her seating on a bench at Storybrooke Harbor looking at the sea. She feels angry and scared and foolish for having searched all over town for the brunette woman with a now cold bag in her hands. It was a little past midnight and Regina had disappeared since noon, her secretary saying she had missed lunch and all.

Emma wants to scream at the woman, she wants to snap at her for being so careless and for disappearing without a single word. They were supposed to have lunch together that day and when Regina missed it, she went to Town Hall with her lunch from Granny's only to discover the woman had missed an important appointment and had disappeared since then.

Regina hadn't noticed her yet. Her back was turned to Emma as she continued to sit still, fidgeting occasionally with her hands poised in her lap. Emma had to take a few deep breaths and force to calm herself before approaching her or they would end up fighting, something she wasn't really in the mood to do after her exhausting day.

The few lights on were casting a glow at Regina's form, that was the first thing Emma noticed. She slowly approached the oblivious woman from her right side, sitting herself beside her on the bench. Regina didn't move an inch to acknowledge her presence. She could see her watery eyes glistening while staring ahead of her. When Emma's eyes got to her hands her breath caught in her throat and she cursed herself. How could've she forgotten about this date?

In her hands Regina was twisting her ring. The ring Daniel had given her when he had proposed.

The Saviour opened her mouth but nothing came out of it. When Regina looked at her she knew the apology on the tip of her tongue was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"It's just… it's been a long time since he's gone." Regina admitted in a whisper, her voice cracking slightly. Her heart clenched at the admission and she resumed her view of the waters.

"I know." Emma said softly. She moved her hands to try to comfort Regina but then remembered the plastic bag. "I brought you lunch." She slowly lifted the plastic bag to Regina's face. Regina's reaction wasn't expected at all. She gave a teary laugh and reached to grab the bag from Emma's hands.

"I- thank you, Emma." Regina gave her a tiny smile.

Emma didn't know what to do or where to put her hands, so she awkwardly rubbed them together while sneaking little glances at Regina's form.

"I'm sorry it's cold." She started as soon as Regina opened the container. "It's just – I've been searching for you all day with it and your secretary said you didn't have lunch but of course you didn't 'cause you skipped our lunch and I thought that maybe you would be starving and I know it's kind of silly but I couldn't let it go and-"

"That's fine, Emma." Regina had to raise her voice a little for Emma to stop since she was still rambling like an idiot. "I don't mind at all." She smiled.

When Emma managed to shut herself up she waited Regina's reaction when she saw what was inside the container. But her reaction never came. She just started to eat in silence, Emma's eyes following all her movements from the tiny bites to the way she swallowed it. When Regina noticed Emma looking at her again she just lifted a perfect sculptured eyebrow at her and watched the blonde woman squirm and blush while looking away.

Regina sighed not believing in what she was about to ask.

"Do you want a piece of it?" Emma's widened eyes and frantic hand gestures of denial made her roll her eyes at the startled blonde. "I presume you haven't eaten anything other than breakfast today since you spent all of your time since lunch searching for me and the fact that you didn't attack this grilled cheese all day only shows how much you've been worried about me, so now, I'll ask one more time, do you want a piece of it?" Regina gestured to the grilled cheese in her hands.

Emma looked at Regina's vulnerable form and slowly nodded, realizing Regina was completely right. She was famished and the only thing she had eaten that day was a doughnut and a coffee at Granny's.

The two women stood there, sharing a grilled cheese at the harbor under the crappy lamp post lights at midnight and Emma couldn't help thinking how perfectly comfortable they felt with each other.

When they were making their way back to where the bug was parked Emma noticed Regina shivering in her designer coat. The layer was clearly insufficient to warm the brunette and throwing caution to the wind she took out her red jacket - the one Regina absolutely loathed and secretly enjoyed - leaving it on her shoulders. Regina's surprised face made her smile and they continued the path in silence.

"Neal was asking for you all day." Emma commented quietly a few minutes later.

"He was?" Regina's surprised voice was amusing to Emma.

"Yeah, he was. He still has big fat crush on you, you know?"

Regina laughed wholeheartedly at that. Emma stood there looking at her dumbfounded. Regina only laughed like that when Henry was around.

"What can I do if all of you Charmings seem to be smitten with me?" A teasing smile danced on her lips.

Emma got lost on her lip scar for a moment. "Regina –" She then grabbed her arm and spun the other woman to her. Regina looked at her confused and she cleared her throat, gluing her eyes to her boots feeling suddenly shy. "Don`t do that again, okay?"

The tiny heartbroken tone let Regina know what the blonde was talking about. She nodded but Emma seemed too absorbed with her shoes to notice.

"I was really scared." Emma continued. "What would I tell Henry if you -" She stopped, raising her eyes to look at her son's other mother.

"I apologize, Emma." The words came out of her almost automatically. She knew Emma would be preoccupied with her sudden disappearance, she just didn't know how much she would care about it. "It won't happen again, I promise." She squeezed the blonde's hands to let her know she was serious. With some deep breaths and a tiny nod from Emma, they resumed their walking towards the yellow death-trap as Regina called it these days.

The doorbell sounded louder than normal and Regina wondered who was bothering her on a Saturday afternoon just when she was about to start baking her blueberry muffins. It was tradition now, she always cooked some blueberry muffins to the dinner at granny's request and always saved some to give to Neal – and Emma occasionally. That's why when she opened the door her surprise turned to mild irritation. Emma swan was leaning against her pillar on her ridiculous red leather jacket holding some bags on her hands. Her idiotic grin was big on her face and Regina rolled her eyes making passage to her.

"That's right, Miss Swan, you can just make yourself at home since you don't know how to make a phone call warning you'll be coming over." Regina muttered under her breath while Emma made her way confidently to the kitchen.

She deposited the bags on the counter and clapped her hands happily, turning to look at Regina who was entering the kitchen.

"So… blueberry muffins again huh?" The sheriff stated while rummaging through Regina's ingredients. "I see you're getting pretty famous with these, they seem to evaporate from the dinner."

"I'm sure if they knew I'm the one making them they would try and vomit all the others they've already ate."

"Of course they know it's you making them, Granny's awful at baking muffins." Emma dismissed. "Besides, I came to help you today." At Regina's blank stare Emma clapped her hands again before opening them in a hug gesture, making a ridiculous figure of herself in Regina's opinion. "Surprise!"

"I sincerely hope you're not being serious about this."

"Oh chill out Regina, I won't ruin your precious kitchen or anything. I was just thinking this morning that we should do something together and what better thing to do than cook since it's something you're a bad ass on and I thought you could give me some cooking tips."

"And you also thought, what, that I would agree with you?" Regina huffed indignantly. "You'll ruin my day."

"Come on, Regina!" Emma whined, to which Regina made an unladylike noise feeling annoyed and reached for a cabinet to get her apron. "Don't you want someone to test your amazing food?" Emma trailed behind her, following her steps in the kitchen. "I even got you a gift this time. A really nice gift."

With that the blonde woman searched through her bag and pulled a bottle of red wine and a bundle well wrapped in a cheesy paper with tiny little red hearts. Her eyebrow was almost in her hairline when Emma had the decency to blush and explain that that was the only paper they had to wrap presents.

"Very well. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see what atrocity you've brought me." Regina said although she was really curious about the 'gift' Emma had brought to her.

Emma went to secure the wine on her freezer and then passed the bundle to her. She could feel it was soft and smooth under her fingers. Regina carefully unwrapped the papers, coming to a halt when the final one came down and Emma did a 'ta-da' sound.

She took the piece and smiled to herself at how ridiculous it was. Emma took the apron from her and held it in front of her body, urging Regina to wear it. She reluctantly did so with a sigh and a small blush. Emma had bought her a red apron with the inscriptions 'Keep calm and eat a bear claw' written in a black and white fancy letters, a huge well-made draw of a bear claw in the middle of it.

The sheriff was grinning like an idiot as soon as she finished tying Regina's apron. She took her cell phone from her pocket and snapped a photo before Regina could protest, her startled face making Emma laugh while looking at the picture. When Regina started to complain Emma just added `to henry` before sending it to him and receiving another message with laughing faces and a thumbs up. Regina went to stand over her shoulder trying to see henry`s message. She grinned as soon as she saw the thumbs up attached with a photo of her son smiling and waving at them.

Since that first day Emma started helping her on the kitchen Regina recognized she really appreciated the company, and having someone to talk to while cooking was something she was starting to enjoy. Katheryn sometimes passed by but she never stayed long enough to help Regina in the kitchen now that she had her twins plus the brunette woman always dismissed her attempts at helping.

She and Emma could bicker about silly things but at the end of the day it was always worth it having her there. She sometimes brought Neal along and the little boy always made her smile, he was so shy and well-mannered she sometimes doubted he was a Charming being raised by Snow. But henry was a Charming too and he was a wonderful boy despite his family line.

Today Emma was coming over, their encounters now extended to Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Emma was practically living in the mansion without really sleeping there and Snow often called her complaining that her daughter didn't come home to dinner with them anymore on Saturdays and Sundays. Emma often rolled her eyes at her mother when she started complaining too much and she even dragged Regina a few times to the Charmings household on Sunday nights.

Regina carefully set aside two apple turnovers on a plate for when Emma arrived, she knew the woman would eventually end up eating the ones she had already packed to deliver to Archie and she would have to replace them. She stopped with her hand in mid-air wondering when did she started making extra food to Emma eat when she arrived.

The doorbell sounded as usual and she ran to her mirror to check her hair and makeup before making her way to open the door. As usual Emma was standing there in her atrocious red leather jacket and skin tight jeans glory, leaning against her pillar. They made their way inside and she gave Emma her `proud mother` apron while unconsciously wearing the `keep calm and eat a bear claw` apron Emma had given her. If Emma noticed that she didn't comment.

It was way past 10 pm when Emma left her house and Regina found herself seated in her bed wondering what had really happened that day. It was a normal day and they had bickered and talked and laughed a lot as usual, but when she walked Emma to the door that night the blonde had done something very unusual in their relationship. She had kissed Regina on the cheek. Regina knew Emma didn't even noticed what she had done because she was still laughing about the album she had discovered in Regina's office, one of when henry was a toddler and she was addicted in taking pictures of them while she made silly faces at him and he laughed about them. But Regina had noticed. At first she had startled when the blonde woman put her hand in her waist and started to approach her face. But then the kiss was over in a second and the blonde was gone.

She changed into her nightgown and got ready for bed. She obviously didn't want to overthink silly things like that and she certainly wasn't going to think about what was happening between them.

"No, Emma, mom told me she wanted specifically the red and green ones." Henry complained behind her. It was Christmas Eve and Regina had sent them at last minute to the grocery shop before it closed for the day to buy some fancy napkins she had seen the other day and had forgotten to buy, which was odd because Emma knew Regina never forgets about things like that.

Henry was miraculously with them this Christmas and he was planning to stay for two weeks. Considering he was almost glued to his recent girlfriend it was really a miracle. He wasn't planning on coming, but Emma had made her pouting face over Facetime (because that was apparently a thing now), and when it didn't work on him she resorted to telling him how disappointed his mom would be, dinning all lone and with no one who loved her to share Christmas morning presents. She was being dramatic of course because she would be spending Christmas with Regina to her mother's disapproval, but that had worked on him like magic.

"Look, she's too busy cooking those fancy dishes and I promise you she's not going to notice about the napkins." Emma argued for the 10th time. "The ones she wanted clearly have sold out and I'm not going to turn this city upside down just to buy some pretty napkins that, let me remind you, she will not notice!"

"She always notices things like that." Henry hissed. "I thought you knew her better by now."

"I do!"

"Then trust me when I tell you she. will. notice."

They were going to Snow's tomorrow and Regina was being a control freak as usual, stressing about little details like the color of the napkins as if they couldn't just use a red one or a green one. No. She wanted specifically the red ones with the green thingys on them.

"I'll just call Snow and tell her that we don't have napkins and she will figure something out." Emma took her cell phone from her back pocket and noticed she didn't have battery. "Shit. My battery's out."

"See, that's a sign right there. I told you she will freak out if we don't bring the ones she asked for and I'm not gonna be the one to tell her if that happens, you will. Since you're all buddies right now she will definitely forgive you if you do your stupid face and tell her you misheard her." Henry sassed as he pushed the tiny cart, collecting a chocolate bar for him and hoping Emma would be too distracted by the stupid face comment.

"I don't have ...put that back." She returned the chocolate bar to the shelves. He was almost a grown man and still managed to act like a child. "I don't have a stupid face! And how do you know she won't kill me for good this time?"

"You know she won't, she loves you." He commented nonchalantly.

Emma startled and almost tripped on the cart. "She does? She said something to you?"

"Why? Are you hoping she did?"

"What, no! I was just… never mind." She dismissed and turned back to look at the other side of the aisle while keeping one eye on Henry and noticing how smug he looked. She groaned and rolled her eyes.

Emma was about to have a mental breakdown and it wasn't even mid-day. She was itching to get a cup of coffee and a greasy pastry but Regina was fuming all morning and apparently she, quoting the brunette woman, "should be punished for lying about having found her napkins and bringing some awful ones". So she was trying to finish what Regina had ordered her to do while she showered and got ready to go to the Charmings for lunch. She was just finishing closing some fancy dish that she didn't even want to know what it was made of when the smell of Regina's amazing perfume entered the kitchen. Emma turned and it felt like her lungs could stop working at any moment now. Regina was stunning. As always, of course. But today she couldn't even begin to describe the perfect dress she was wearing, perfectly tailored to her body, not too indecent but not too innocent either, those long legs standing on those ridiculously high heels, her dark lipstick and that perfect smooth hair of hers well put together. Damn. She was staring and of course Regina noticed it.

"Do close your mouth, dear." Regina jabbed. When Emma averted her eyes as if burned by fire, she internally smiled for having reached her goal. The other woman was almost drooling and her face was starting to turn as red as a tomato.

"You look nice, Regina." Emma muttered without looking at her and pretending to adjust something on her table. "Well, you always look nice, I mean, you look really good as in really gorgeous, but I'm guessing you know that by now and I'm just gonna shut my mouth."

"Thank you, Emma." Regina smiled at how Emma startled at hearing her name. "You don't look bad yourself." After giving Emma a second appreciative look, she went to turn off the oven. "I suppose Henry should be ready by now but I have the strange feeling he's going to be late because he's 'facetiming'," she spat the word as if it was something disgusting to say, "his latest female friend."

Emma snickered. "Female friend? Where are we, in the 19th Century? Just say his girlfriend, Regina. It won't kill you to admit he kisses the ladies and has some action now."

"I would rather not." Was Regina's short answer.

"You can't be serious right now." She looked at Regina and the glare she received was clear she should drop it, but Emma wasn't known for being quiet. "You know, that's why he comes to me when he wants to talk about his girlfriends or about sex, you freak out too much for something so simple as that. I get it, he's your baby boy, but he's all grown up now Regina. What will happen when one day he decides to bring a girl home to meet you?"

Regina felt the sting of something she hadn't felt for quite some time now when it came to Henry. Jealousy. Her nostrils flared and she turned quite violently to Emma.

"I suggest you stop right there, Miss Swan." She hissed and Emma felt like she had been slapped. "What will happen when he brings a girl home to meet _me_?" She asked dangerously, approaching Emma slowly like a lion approaching a gazelle.

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"Yes, you did." Regina gritted through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to dignify you with an answer, so I think it's best if you go check up on Henry while I finish here." She dismissed.

"Look, Regina…"

"Go!"

Emma saw how hurt she was by that stupid comment she made and decided to keep her mouth shut for now. The last thing she wanted was to fight with Regina on Christmas and now she had fucked up big time. She just sighed and turned to go check up on Henry, sparing one last glance at Regina who was pretending to clean something on her counter top. Emma sighed again and left.

"Out with it, what did you do?" Snow pushed Emma aside as soon as they had dropped their coats and Regina had dragged Henry to the kitchen to help her set the food.

"What? I didn't do anything!" Her daughter denied while also looking guilty. Snow was having none of it. By the look Regina had when she came in she could well murder an entire village, no pun intended, and she just knew Emma had something to do with it. Now Regina would be angry throughout all day when she was just trying to spend a nice Christmas with her family. She glared at her daughter. "Okay, okay. I might have said something rude to her like one hour ago. But I didn't mean it like that!"

Snow huffed and slapped Emma's arm. "I don't know and don't want to know what you said to her but you better apologise and make things right because I won't be spending Christmas with Regina looking like a murderous evil queen the rest of the day." She whispered the last part looking around frantically.

"Don't call her that." Her daughter hissed.

"Go apologize."

Snow pushed her in the kitchen direction and made a 'go' sign with her hands when Emma hesitated in the threshold. At this moment Neal came running and Emma saw him going straight to hug Regina. She chickened out and pushed David to the living room while receiving a disapproving look from her mother. She knew Regina, she should let her calm down and try to explain what she really meant to say earlier. Or maybe she shouldn't try to explain, just apologize. Whatever. She just knew that getting near Regina right now would be a near death experience, so she should just keep her distance for now until she calmed down.

Emma really didn't know how things had turned out south this morning, she still remembered how Regina took her breath away when she showed up at the kitchen, how amazing she looked and how she had rambled like an idiot in front of her. Everything was going perfectly fine until her big stupid mouth decided to make an appearance. How she regretted even saying anything. The lunch was so awkward with Snow and David trying to make conversation, Henry clueless about what was happening around him and checking his phone every 5 minutes until she snapped at him and told him to spend Christmas time with his family, and Regina still looking pissed and sitting across from her, occasionally stepping on her feet with her stupid high heels. It wasn't a complete disaster only because Neal was too much of a cutie and was distracting Regina with his cuteness. They opened presents and Regina managed to smile a little even though she was still pissed at her, and everything was going apparently well.

It was starting to get dark outside and Emma was coming from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. She had helped Snow wash the dishes while Henry, Regina, David and Neal were in the living room watching a movie. When she returned, they were all playing some new video game and laughing so loud she almost missed the fact that Regina wasn't there with them.

"Where's your mom, kid?" She asked Henry as soon as she sat with him.

He didn't look at her, too engrossed in his game.

"She just went outside to catch some air. Neal is asleep upstairs."

"Right." She got up and started to the door, only to have his hand around her pulse.

"Please don't fight with her, ma." Henry pleaded. "I don't know what happened this morning between you two while I was upstairs but she looked distraught all day. I know I haven't been paying a lot of attention to her lately, but I thought you guys were good friends now."

Emma felt her heart clench and nodded. She noticed her dad getting up to give them some privacy and sat in his place.

"We are Henry." She sighed. "It's just. We were talking about how you seemed glued to your new girlfriend and she made a joke about you having a 'female friend', then I made a joke about us being in the…well, you get the point. Then I just said something stupid to her about that's why you came to me and not to her to talk about, you know, girlfriends and sex and stuff and then I basically told her your girlfriends would hate her if they met her because she was, you know, Regina." Emma said rapidly. At Henry's gasp, she closed her eyes. "I know, I know. I screwed up."

"So that's why she kept looking at me all sad when she thought I wasn't looking." He kept glaring at her and if Emma didn't felt bad already she would be apologizing to him in no time. "You know I don't go to her because I know it makes her uncomfortable to talk to me about those things, not because I don't want to go to her."

"I know Henry, I didn't meant it to sound as if you were leaving her out of your life like you used to when I came into town. Or that you were choosing me over her. My mouth just gets in the way of things and I pretty much messed up. It wasn't even a big deal."

"Yeah, you know she makes a big deal out of everything." He rolled his eyes. "I don't even know how you two manage not to kill each other when I'm at college."

"Well, I help her cook." At Henry's disbelieving look Emma shrugged. "Sometimes. And I give her really cute aprons."

"Just go talk to her please, and don't say anything stupid." Emma wanted to protest and say she didn't say stupid things but at his glare she just huffed and got up, went to the door and closed it while Henry mouthed to her 'don't fight'.

She found Regina standing just at the building's entrance, she was hugging herself and was distracted looking outside. She didn't seem to notice Emma coming.

"I don't want to talk to you." Regina said. Yep, she did notice.

Emma sighed and honestly she was just getting tired of this and wanted to apologize so she and Regina could go back to being whatever they were. She didn't like fighting anymore, and she hated to think she had hurt Regina. She knew how sensitive she was about Henry and yet.

"Come on, Regina. I just want to apologize. I don't like it when we fight."

"Do I need to draw for you to comprehend me, Miss Swan? Or you're just too stupid and can't understand what I'm saying." The brunette snapped. Emma didn't take offence and just shrugged.

"You know I didn't mean it like that earlier. I only meant to say that Henry knows you get uncomfortable while talking about certain subjects with him and that's why he comes to me." She started to explain. Regina didn't move but Emma knew she was listening. "It's not because he's excluding you from his life, or because he doesn't want to talk to you about them. It's just, you're his mom. Okay, that sounded stupid because I'm also his mom, but what I'm trying to say is that he knows I'm more open to talk to him about certain things you're not." She took a deep breath. "And as for the girlfriends coming home to meet you, I only meant that like any other normal mom, you would give them some trouble because you really care about our son. I didn't meant as if you're some kind of monster or something. You're the best mom I know. Please don't tell Snow I said that." Emma joked and Regina huffed, clearly holding onto her angry facade, but Emma was having none of it.

After some time in silence, Regina finally spoke.

"I didn't like how you said that, as if I couldn't very well talk to him about those things and that's why _he only comes to you_. It makes me feel as if I'm an awful mother."

"I'm sorry, Regina. You're not. Everybody knows that." Emma came closer and stood beside her. Regina felt her body heat but didn't move from her spot. "You're a wonderful mother and I'm sorry for having implied otherwise. And Henry's girlfriends would be delighted to meet you, you know. You're adorable when you're in your control freak mode."

Emma was getting closer now and Regina turned her body to face her. It was still something she feared all this time, that Henry would grow up and realize he didn't need her anymore, or that he would somehow realize she had been a bad mother to him. And Emma knew that. That's why it had stung so much.

"Look at me, Regina." Emma pleaded, and reached a hand to put a stray lock of Regina's perfect shiny black hair behind her left ear. "I'm really sorry."

"Okay."

They kept staring at each other for a while until Emma cracked a big smile.

"Just so you know, I didn't plan to trap you under this mistletoe." She joked pointing at their heads. Regina snapped her head and looked right at the mistletoe hanging above their heads on the Charmings building entrance. From the house's windows, they couldn't see Snow, David and Henry hid by the curtains, trying to sneak a peek at what was happening between them.

At that moment, Regina was self-conscious about how close they were and how she matched Emma's exact height with her heels. And she noticed how Emma's eyes seemed to be glued on her lips. Then all of a sudden, her lips were being kissed gently and she started to hear a faint cheering noise. They were cold and it was snowing and the kiss was over too fast. It was over very quickly and she was left there staring at green anxious eyes, filled with fear and apprehension.

"Miss Swan," Regina murmured, her gaze never leaving Emma's lips. "You really don't know how to do something very well do you?" She pulled Emma by the collar of her jacket and before locking their lips together again she whispered, "I guess we will just have to repeat that, hm?"

End.


End file.
